The present invention relates in general to surgical procedure implements and in particular to an illuminated surgical tray apparatus for the facilitated viewing and selection of thin fibrous surgical materials such as sutures and related instruments associated therewith, in a sterile operating room environment.
With conventional surgery techniques and procedures, suture materials have become increasingly thin and difficult to inspect by the naked eye of a nurse or surgeon attending the procedure. Actual surgical needles carrying a "threaded" suture, threaders themselves and minute strands of suture material are not easily resolvable by the human eye--resulting in potentially costly time delays to recheck for such suture materials. Few if any devices are presently known to address the particular disclosure of suture material in a surgical environment.
While surgical disclosure trays for sutures are not known to exist, various other "magnifying" apparata such as Roland, U.S. Pat. No. 467, 630 and Fleenor, U.S. Pat. No. 2,435,741 have combined tongs or tweezers with magnifying lenses. Den Uyl, U.S. Pat. No. 2,563,315 and Senff, U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,993 have employed magnifying lenses with bottom trays. Other devices such as Callaghan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,757 have employed a substantially closed box-like structure for viewing and turning coins and having a "built-in" magnifying lens and light source. Herbert, U.S. Pat. No. 2,713,807 employs a lower tray, light source and magnifying lens; while Dennis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,883 employs a light box, lit from below, and having a light absorbing or reflective background.
Drawbacks have additionally been encountered with present surgical trays as well as the above-described prior art and conventional "magnifier" construction. In particular, a conventional surgical tray can present problems in firstly locating and then selecting minute thread-like surgical sutures and the like, in an operating room environment since virtually few, if any, features have been integrated into such trays towards expressly disclosing suture material.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved illuminated surgical tray apparatus that serves to enhance the visibility of minute objects such as sutures positioned therein, through the use of a focused light source and an optically colored, optical disclosure field means.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a construction for the surgical tray apparatus that facilitates access to the interior thereof, for insertion and removal of objects therefrom.
It is additionally an object of the present invention to provide a substantially sealed light construction that is air, water and steam tight so as to enable autoclaving of the overall apparatus so as to enable use and reuse thereof in a sterile operating room environment. Alternatively, such a construction will preclude sparks or fires, while additionally enabling other sterilization techniques such as ethylene oxide sterilization.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a non-glare optical disclosure field material that serves to maintain the minute objects placed thereon and to provide a substantially rounded edge and corner construction that facilitates puncture-proof shrink wrapping of the entire apparatus, so as to maintain its sterility--in a construction that can be manufactured at a minimum cost and effort.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification, drawings and claims.